An artist whose work will be shown at Lux Helsinki 2014, Jari Haanperä, and his Suomesta Galleria in Berlin received the Finland Prize on Monday, 16 December 2013. The Prize is awarded in recognition of a significant career in arts, an exceptional artistic achievement, or a promising breakthrough.
FYR, an installation comprising more than two hundred storm lanterns and light bulbs, will be set up in the National Museum's courtyard. His video montage called Maailman valo, will be included in the light art exhibition Lux IN in the 'Merikaapelihalli' of the Cable Factory. In this video montage, the lights of different cities intertwine to form a single growing network of lights on the planet.
The prize was presented by the Minister of Culture and Sport Paavo Arhinmäki, and the grounds for selecting Haanperä were as follows: "Haanperä is a master at bringing out wonders created by things that appear simple on the surface."
Christmas World from 30 November to 22 December and from 26 December to 6 January is a delightful Christmas market in the city centre where people gather to shop and spend time alongside Santa Claus, snowmen and other fun Christmas characters.
Near the Three Smiths Square and the Old Student House you can enjoy Christmas music and special performances while sipping a mug of steaming hot mulled wine. In one of the cabins you can admire an impressive nativity scene created by students.
Lux Helsinki 2014's partner is the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL). The event is also in collaboration with Finland’s Slot Machine Association RAY. The turn of the year is an important time for the both: by the collaboration HBL celebrates the opening of its 150th anniversary and RAY celebrates the closing of its 75th anniversary. Also Helsingin Energia and Red Green Blue RGB Ltd. continue as partners.
During the event, there will be a special 150th anniversary lighting at the tower of HBL's building at Mannerheimintie street. In the lighting, by lighting designer Jukka Huitila, the orange colour of HBL shines like a lighthouse. HBL is the first company in the history of Lux Helsinki that has made an initiative to illuminate its building during the event.
As a climax of its anniversary, RAY invites the audience to play the merry and nostalgic Urban Flipper which is a part of the official programme of Lux Helsinki. Read more of the installation at the New Student House.
All in all, the event spawned up to 1450 articles in print and online media, stories on TV or radio, posts on blogs, tweets, Facebook posts or other coverage on social media. 66 articles were published in Finnish print media. The active audience of the event wrote 151 blog posts in total. In international media, at least 76 stories were published. Thank you!